The Snowman
by HobbitofRavenclaw
Summary: This is a tag on to the Amazing "An Alphabet of Love letters" written with permission in hopes I can do Chartreuse justice. Seriously haven't read Alphabet, go read it now. Rated T for second chapter
1. Chapter 1

This is a tag on to the Amazing **Chartreuseians** _An Alphabet of Love letters written with permission in hopes I can do it justice. Seriously if you haven't read that go read it now_

_Snowman Prompt, Helen and Nikolas first Christmas._

* * *

" A snowman?" Nikola repeated, looking at the sad forlorn lump of mud Helen proudly fussed over.

"Yes." she smiled and added another pat of 'snow' to the miserable lumpy pile. "My very first snowman."

"Really?" Nikola asked in surprise as Helen found a rock to use for the nose. She had to bend almost to the ground in order to apply it, as the creation was almost down to her knees.

It was late in the year (At least in this upside down calender the British used.) The sky had threatened snow for weeks. All his professors said if it did finally snow before the winter holidays, they would not have class. - Nikola was pleased when he woke up to find a fresh blanket of snow over the ground. Nothing as thick or deep as it was back home in Smiljan, but enough of the soft footed Englishmen to cancel class for a week.

Nikola had been enjoying his free time by the fireplace with a good claret and an english edition of Faust. He had just gotten comfortable when he heard the unmistakable thunk of ice on his window. Nikola put down his book and went to the window. irate and ready to tell off the intruder of his indulgence to take a flying leap in whatever language came handy. His anger disappeared at the sight of the 'intruder' bundled in her winter gear and smiling like a naughty schoolchild.

"Helen!" He smiled in surprise. In response she threw another snowball, but it fell apart before it reached him.

"Get down here!" she called, still grinning lie a Cheshire cat.

"That's not fair, Helen. You know I cant deny you anything." Nikola withdrew and dressed quickly for the winter day. He pulled on his new boots, a gift from his mother. they were cheap, but the quality was good. Meticulously stitched to keep out the wet snow. Nikola himself had sealed them with a double carbon polyethylene, making them waterproof. Then he slipped on his scarf, tying it carefully over his neck. It was soft and made of silk. It kept his neck warm, something his mother always fussed about. After that came his coat, and hat. The hat had been a present from his sisters, each one knitting a section of it. "With extra love to keep you warm." they had said. The coat belonged to his father. It was old and worn out, resewn once or twice and darned in more than a few places. But it was warm and familiar. Lastly Nikola put on his new gloves. They were much more expensive, but quite thin. It took him 3 jobs and 2 years to save up for them The gloves cost more than all his course books and his chemistry equipment. As long as he didn't touch the snow, they would hold up. The only thing more expensive was the scarf. He walked out

He walked out to join Helen, who threw another snowball at him, though it missed him by at least a foot. Helen giggled and ran through the snow. Nikola laughed and ran after her as she positively skipped. He scooped up a handful of snow and packed it loosely before throwing it at her. There was no one else about, most of the other men were in their dorms sleeping in or off visiting family. Helen had forgone Proper ladies fashions for more functional snow gear. She was wearing a pair of mens pants, a tapered winter coat and a furry hood, though that had fallen off in her mock flight. Her golden curls spilled out, spinning loosely in the wind. Nikola stopped to take in the sight of her. Although it was designed to be warm and well insulated, it tapered to hug her form, showing off her luscious curves and the supple lines of her body. Nikola was positively salivating. Druitt would Kill him if He found out...

"Nikola? Are you listening to me?" Helen laughed.

Nikola blushed "I was admiring you perfect..." He pulled his eyes regretfully from her backside and smirked "Voice"

Helen rolled her eyes. "Focus Nikola. I have something I want to show you." She stepped aside to reveal...

"Uh Helen, what is that?" Nikola examined the shapeless mass with a lumpy rounded to. the bottom was a slushy mess, already falling apart. Here and there were patches of white, but mostly it was made of a thick brown substance Nikola fervently hoped was mud.

"Its a snowman! " Helen laughed "What does it look like?"

Not a snowman. He thought as Helen searched for a rock to use as a nose. She found one almost as large as the snowman head. It seemed to look up at him rather forlornly as though asking Nikola for help.

"So you never made a snowman before?" One of the Serbians earliest memories was building a snow man with his brother and sisters.

_They had put the body together and dressed it in their fathers best suit. Nikola was in charge of the head. While the girls searched for suitable arms, Dane showed little Nikola how to roll the snow into a tight little ball and place it atop the snowman._

_"Now he needs a face." Dane set Nikola back on the ground and pointed him to the house. "Go and bring back some eyes and a nose."_

_Nikola ran obediently into the kitchen where Djuka was preparing supper and began checking cupboards and drawers. "Mumma where do we keep the faces?"_

_"Such things you dream up Nikola!" She laughed._

_"Dane says the snowman needs a face."_

_Djuka nodded and handed him a carrot and some potatoes. "Try these on for size."_

"Oh no!" Helen cried, pulling Nikola from his reverie. She had been trying to press eyes into her 'creation' and the whole thing crumpled to the ground.

"Yeah that's too bad. Well it happens. Come on Helen, lets get you inside." Where it's warm he added to himself as he wrapped an arm around her and began guiding her inside.

"No wait." Helen pulled away and went back to her clump of mud "I want to get this right. You go on in." She said, heaping the snow/mud into a pile and tried digging it upward. Like a sandcastle.

"Helen. you cant do it lie that. Its too wet, it wont hold form." Nikola crouched beside her and pried her gently away. Anyone else in the world and he would merely have scoffed and walked off. But not Helen Magnus. He superposed it was because he was so in love with her.

"Show me then." Helen smiled and shoved the snow toward him.

"I- what?" Nikola asked in surprise.

"Show me how to make a snowman!" Helen gathered more mud with a gleeful look.

Nikola sighed, knowing he could deny her nothing. He dug his hands into the snow, ruining his new expensive gloves. It was worth it to see her smile.

"See you start with a little ball of snow and roll it along to make it bigger." Nikola explained with more patience than he would show with anyone else.

"Here, let me..." Nikola stepped up beside her the small pat of snow was too loose, ready to fall apart.

I can DO this Nikola." She insisted. He smiled and watched her build a (slightly) less flimsy snowman and turned expectantly to Nikola.

"Now I need your scarf."


	2. Chapter 2

_Not part of the Alphabet of love letters but a fun little tag on. And after all that cold weather Helen and Nikola need to warm things up._

* * *

Nikola unraveled his scarf as he entered the underground sanctuary. Helen pulled off her own hood and shook out her dark hair.

"Cold! Cold cold cold ___cold__" _Nikola shivered.

"Cold Nikola?" Helen teased without looking back at him.

"Freezing! I might have hypothermia." Nikola smirked and wrapped his arms around her, cuddling into her back. "We better get out of these clothes and wrap up in a blanket."

Helen shook him off with a laugh. "I have something better." Helen pulled out a small white box. "Go upstairs and change into this."

Nikola shook his head as he stripped off his icy outer gear. What had possessed him to agree to a 3 week expedition to Antarctica? 3 long weeks of him and Helen alone in a secluded cabin without phone service or electricity. Just the pair of them with her poetry book and the roaring fireplace. Nothing for hours and hours except Helen's voice reciting poetry as the pair sipped Zinfandel by the fire, bundled under the same blanket.

Oh yeah.

That was how she got him to agree. Nikola shook out his warmer clothes, hanging the parka and scarf by the fire. He took his boots off and placed them near the door. But his expensive gloves were destroyed. That was the second pair ruined on her account.

Down to his shirtsleeves and pants, (having folded his vest and placed it in the hamper) Nikola opened the box expecting to find a snugly warm sweater. Nikola gulped as a pair of black swim trunks peeped out. Of course, he was an avid swimmer. At a young age, he began swimming 27 laps a day. A tradition he had upheld when he could, the obvious exception being when he was in the tundra or the desert.

"Oh Helen. What have you planned?" Nikola muttered.

Feeling foolish, Nikola changed into the small (for his taste) swim trunks and looked in the mirror critically. The shorts hugged his hips and clung to his muscular thighs. While he kept up with the times in his normal clothes, Nikola was still conservative about his bathing clothes. He kept a simple beige full swimsuit from the 1890s, with legs tapering to his ankles and a full body suit crossing over his chest and he had long done away with his swim cap, he never held with shorts or (Perish the thought) a speedo.

He actually blushed at the thought of walking down the hall in just the shorts themselves. Nikola pulled out his long white bathrobe coming down to his ankles. He then walked up the corridors to the pool praying to a Deity he long since stopped believing in that Helen would be there to explain this.

"Helen?" Nikola called as he reached the pool on the surface disguised as a private garden. "Helen why am I wearing this ridiculously small swimsuit?"

"Over here Nikola." Helen called. She was back lit in the setting sun. The low light hit perfectly to highlight the red tints in her dark raven hair, the same red tints that had so captivated him in Oxford. Her black silk robe came just above her knee and she hadn't bothered tying the front. Nikola stared open-mouthed at her well toned body clad in a royal blue bikini, contrasting perfectly with her milk-white skin.

"whats wrong Nikola?" Helen asked with a slightly concerned look. "did I get the wrong size?" She walked toward him slowly, the curve hugging swimsuit making it impossible for Nikola to miss the light sway of her hips. Nikola licked his lips and gently slid the robe from her shoulders and let it pool at her feet.

"I take back everything bad I ever said about modern bathing suits."

Helen smiled and took Nikola s hand, leading him to the other side of the pool

"You look rather ridiculous in your bathrobe Nikola" Helen sighed "If i had known you would be uncomfortable walking down the halls in your swim clothes I would have gotten you a pull over."

She made quick work of the knot at his waist and with a little help from Nikola and a lot of compliance slipped the robe from the vampires wiry frame. Helen smiled and ran her hands over Nikola s well toned muscles. He shivered as Helen ghosted her hands over his pectoralis major.

"Still cold?" she teased. The night air was warm but not balmy.

"Will you warm me up?" Nikola smiled and stepped closer. "your kisses always seem to do the trick."

Helen laughed and pulled away, ignoring the pout on his face.

"This way Nikola." She pulled him around a small bend behind the far side of the pool. The area was surrounded by a low wall with bright flowers just outside the swimming enclosure. The smell of night jasmine hung in the air. Around another corner Nikola smiled to see a hot tub bubbling softly.

"Helen Magnus you are the most amazing woman that ever lived."

Helen purred and stepped carefully into the water. "Well? Are you coming?"

Nikola smirked and followed her in, placing one foot carefully in the water to test the temperature. it was warm, but not scalding. Nikola smiled and took a seat beside Helen as she poured them each a glass of wine..

"I think a toast is in order." Helen smiled and held up her glass.

"Yes. To not losing out toes on that mad goose chase in Antarctica" Nikola groused.

Helen rolled her eyes "To accomplishing our goal. We set out to document any evidence of the thought to be extinct Bandersnatch only to find an entire colony of hundreds thriving"

"Charles Dodgson would be so proud." Nikola said with false enthusiasm. helen sighed and moved closer to the morose vampire.

"Whats wrong Nikola?" she asked softly.

"I didn't accomplish what I had set out to do." Nikola shrugged off hand.

"What would that be?" Helen took another sip of her wine "to conquer world with an army of trained penguins?"

"No. I was trying to seduce you, actually" he admitted and studied his wine and took a sip.

Helen shifted slightly, moving closer to him. "Who says you failed?" she purred and stroked his thigh, making the usually self-assured vampire nearly swallow his tongue. Helen smiled as she watched his face go from complete shock to one of pure wonder.

"I might have been a little too hasty about that my appraisal of that swimsuit" Nikola grinned down at her snug two piece.

"Too revealing?" Helen asked, then gasped as she felt one long talon snake behind her to snap the stirngs. She grasped the front and held the flimsy fabric to herself, looking at him reproachfully.

"Quite the contrary." He said as his signature smug grin slid back into place. Helen tried in vain to retie the straps of her swim top, finally resorting to the small scraps he had left her with, she tied the now smaller piece to herself. Nikola placed a small kiss to her bare shoulder and slowly trailed up, lingering at her pulse point by the Jugular. Helen gasped as an image of his vampire form floated in his minds eye. But he soon moved on, kissing along her jawline. Helen abandoned the scraps of her top altogether in favor of wrapping her arms around her genius lover.

"My love ,my world." Nikola murmured in Serbian as he closed in on her mouth. She was still enjoying the kiss when he pulled away.

"Why now? We were alone for thee weeks Just you and me and no cellphones. No interruptions. Why not kiss me then?"

"I didn't want to distract you from your army of penguins." Helen smiled. "I've never seen so many in one place."

"I think at this point there are more snowmen than penguins" Nikola teased.

Helen moved closer and brushed her hand to his hip. "Well there are no penguins here . Or snow men. Just you and me"

"And your cellphone." Nikola groused.

Helen shook her head. "I left it in my room, turned off."

"So just the pair of us in this dark secluded place." Nikola smirked and pulled her closer. He frowned for a moment wondering when exactly she had removed her bottom piece. Helen smiled and linked one leg over his and he decided 'the mystery of the lost bikini shorts' could wait.

"Nikola I'm cold" she whispered "Warm me up?"

Nikola smiled and kissed her reverently. "By the way," He purred " you owe me a new set of gloves."

"Hmm. I'll find other ways to pay you back." Helen groaned between kisses.

"I'll hold you to that." Nikola smirked. Although having Helen in his arms was worth 100 pairs of gloves.

END

* * *

___HN basically FYI Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is the real name of Lewis Carroll author of Alice in Wonderland and the Jabberwocky_

___The Pectoralis major is a muscle on the chest (in case you thought it was something else ;D)_


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